Stolen Memories and Black Market Marrowbone
by four-nostril
Summary: Lily-Lee lets some words slip that gets Spock worked up about the captain. Emergency decontamination program alerts the bridge. The shuttle Galileo crashes into the sea and maroons three persons on dead man's chest. K/S... finally.
1. Chapter 1 - stolen dirty memory

**Authors note: If you don't know Lily-Lee, you can picture her as an Australopithecus with a good brain and a four-nostriled sense of chemical analysis. If you want more details, you can read some of my other stories. She's in all of them.  
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**Now with stunning art by Karl Johnsson.  
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–***–

Chapter 1 - Stolen Dirty Memory

During beta shift down in the laboratory, Spock and Lily-Lee were trying to figure out what caused the pH to shift so suddenly in the south pole ocean of O345. They tested everything from plankton ecosystems to sea floor hot vents to atmospheric gas pressure. No answer yet. There was no hurry, so they went over one thing at a time. Lily-Lee was standing on a chair, analysing some mineral deposits and tried to start a conversation.

"Sooo, getting anywhere with the captain?"

"Why would I have any plans concerning the captain?"

"Oh come on, you don't have to wear that stone face around me. I already know you want him."

"That is of no importance. What I want and what I will are two different things. Captain Kirk is my superior officer."

"Does this have something to do with your long life span? I was thinking that you take forever to get around to do something, but maybe it's just that you have so many more years to do things in. I'm used to rushing things. Here today, eaten tomorrow, as we say back home."

"I assure you that I have no intention to make any advances towards the captain, as I have no reason to believe he is interested in anything except women."

"Oh now, I wouldn't say that. Last time I saw him he looked pretty i..." Lily-Lee put her hands over her mouth. "I'm not supposed to talk about that, right? This discretion thing is difficult."

"Then I suggest that you stop mentioning it." _He looked pretty what? WHAT? Interested? Into it? Infatuated with someone else? What have you been doing with the captain and WHO ELSE was there?_

"Can you break this pebble for me?" Lily-Lee handed him a small stone and Spock broke it in halves with two fingers. "I meant with the chisel, Spock, but this works fine." She took it and put one half in a cuvette with liquid and half in her mouth. No pH change could be detected. "I guess that wasn't it, either. Have they had any earthquakes recently that may have released something? Or O345-quakes."

"We have no data on that. Here, these would be the zones with the highest probability." Spock plotted coordinates on a map in his padd.

"I'll take this over to Chekov and ask him to scan for geodynamic activity in the mid-ocean rift."

"You had better stay with him and wait for the results. He may need additional details as the scan progresses."

"Will do, Spock." Lily-Lee walked out with the padd under her arm.

–***–

Spock decided to indulge once more in the stolen memory of Jim*. How many times had he done that? He didn't want to acknowledge the number but he knew. He always wanted it to be the last time. This behaviour was undignified and he should be able to control himself better. Just one more time and then he would stop. Spock sat down and focused inward, allowed the memory to move through him. He felt cold stone slabs against the soles of her bare feet. His bare feet. Her small hands unbuttoning Kirk's fly and pulling down both trousers and underwear. He was inside those hands, feeling the metal and fabric. He even felt her papillose tongue running across the protruding lower canines in her mouth. He was there when she closed her lips around the tip and kept the teeth away. She took a taste of Jim. This part of the memory was muddled with chemical details that Lily-Lee had absorbed to analyse later, but it was all an unstructured mass to Spock. In the background there were tactile signals from the tongue and hands. Now he saw himself out of the corner or her eye. He was chained to the wall next to Jim and looked at his captain. And Jim, he... this was the climax and Spock remembered it over and over, not reaching the end just yet.

As Jim lifted his head and looked at Spock, he...

When their eyes met, he...

When he caught Jim's gaze, Jim...

Time to let the memory run to its end. As Spock looked directly into the eyes of Jim, Jim gasped and came. In the memory, Spock was in two places at once. Chained against the wall looking at Jim but also down between his legs, taking him all in. The flow of chemical details overshadowed all other impressions but Spock was already done so it didn't matter. This was the last time, this must not be repeated. Discipline.

"Spock, I forgot to..." Lily-Lee came in through the door and stopped in the middle of a step. Her eyebrows shot up to what would have been her hairline, had she not been so all-over hairy. "What is that smell?" Spock got out of the chair and walked over to the other side of the bench but said nothing.

"Yeah, you don't have to answer that. Wow, is that... ammonium chloride? And I can't detect any gamma-glutamyltransferase like the humans have, but acid phosphatase is there. Does it show up in blacklight? The basic amines are there, all of them."

"Get out."

"Oh no, I'm not leaving this until I'm done. Where is the stain?"

"OUT!" Spock caught Lily-Lee with a hand around her wrist and held her dangling high in the air. He threw her out into the corridor and locked the door.

"Hey, where's your sense of science, Spock?" Lily-Lee waited outside the door. She checked her sleeve but there was no stain on it. He must have used his other hand, bad luck. Sure, she could figure out that he was embarrassed, but he was never very emotional, so he would probably let her in when he calmed down. Should be any minute now. But the door did not open, instead there was a hissing sound. The hissing increased and sounded like sprinklers and vapour spray.

"Spock, what are you doing? Did you start the emergency decontamination program? Are you crazy or something?" She kicked at the door but only managed to get a cracked toenail.

–***–

* See "Getting Medieval on Your Ape" chapter 3. s/8986332/1/Getting-Medieval-on-Your-Ape


	2. Chapter 2 - lotion

Chapter 2 - It puts the lotion on its skin

The emergency decontamination program sent a yellow alert to bridge and security. A patrol of guards urged Lily-Lee to stand back from the door. When it opened, there was a cloud of steam that smelled of ozone and wet cardboard. From the cloud came Spock, dripping from clothes and hair. Kirk came running up to him.

"Spock! What happened?" Spock was silent, as he could not come up with any acceptable answer to explain his behaviour, especially to the captain. Instead, he just stood there, dripping. Kirk turned around. "Lily-Lee! What happened?"

"Well, um, we had... a spill. In the laboratory. Of a biological nature. Yeah."

"Something hazardous?"

"Oh, absolutely! Under some conditions, a spill like this could seek out mucus membranes of humans, at least susceptible ones. In the long run, it can cause abdominal swelling, severe pain and loss of blood. Not to mention a severe hormonal imbalance. So yeah, very hazardous."

"But, you're... all right, aren't you, Spock?" Kirk held him by the wrists and tried to get some response from the drenched Vulcan. Finally he said something.

"Yes, captain. With your permission, I will go and change now."

–***–

Spock was in his quarters, concentrating on suppressing his bodily reactions, when he was interrupted by someone at his door. He answered over the intercom.

"Spock? It's Lily-Lee. Is your outer dermal layer reacting in any painful way? That cleaning was heavy-duty and I worry that your skin might get damaged."

"I will manage the pain, if you leave me alone so that I may resume meditating."

"Are you already in pain? Don't leave it untreated, it'll just get worse. I whipped up a lotion for you, based on what I know about your sebum and the temperature of the water vapour. I got a bottle of it here. If you let me in I can apply it for you."

"I am not – nor will I ever be – in the mood for a massage."

"I'm not THAT dense! I put it in a spray bottle so you don't have to get touched. Come on, I covered your ass back there. It's only logical that you uncover your ass now."

"That is not logical. That is an example of a verbal pun that is in itself a _non sequitur._"

"True. But it's either me now or nurse Chapel later. At least I'm only interested in your chemistry and not "the whole Mr Spock, just as you are". Which is less painful?" After a moment of silence, Spock opened his door to let Lily-Lee come in. His quarters were very different from any of the others that she had seen and she looked at the drapes and art. The art was abstract and she found it hard to relate to.

"That robe is a rather coarse fabric, don't you have anything softer? Well, never mind, take it off and I'll put the lotion on. We could start with your back." Spock sat back down on the floor and let the robe drop from his shoulders.

"Wooo, that's green! Damn, Spock, it looks like a thousand cress seeds are germinating on your back!" She took the bottle and started spraying him in horizontal sweeps across the back. "Can you lift your arms? Thank you."

"How did you know about nurse Chapel?"

"I'm good at finding out stuff like that. Stand up so I can do the legs. Do you remember what you wrote about me and my people in your first report?"

"Of course. 'They only use their analytical skills for flock intrigues, coming up with new fads to follow and to tell which food is good to eat.' If you are of the opinion that I should apologise then I can do so."

"Not at all, it was spot-on. But I think you forgot to listen to yourself. What was the first part of your own statement and what conclusions can you draw from that?" Lily-Lee kept spraying while Spock pondered.

"I see. Your words in the laboratory were deliberate."

"Yeah. I don't "accidentally" let something like that slip any more than you "accidentally" touch somebody. I knew what I was saying, but the outcome was unexpected. There is still a lot I need to figure out, both about you and the whole-humans. Sorry. All done! I'll leave the bottle." Lily-Lee put the lotion on the table and left Spock to put his robe back on. She had been tactful enough not to do his private parts, including the hands, so he did those himself. Thoroughly. When he eventually returned to his meditation he had to face the fact that he had relived the memory again, despite his resolution.


	3. Chapter 3 - sweetest taboo

Chapter 3 - The Sweetest Taboo

"Okay, as the captain of this vessel I demand to get an explanation. Why is there a chaise longue in the botany department?" Kirk was standing next to the piece of furniture in question with his arms akimbo and pretended to look annoyed.

"Certainly, captain! I'm waiting for that flower (Lily-Lee pointed to a large bulging bud hanging from a vine) to open and wanted to be comfortable. Would you like to join me? It should be any minute now."

"And what about the ocean pH problem, shouldn't you be working?"

"All done. Spock is writing the report. This is my reward for being uncharacteristically productive. Lay down and get comfy for a while, you look tired."

"I'm on duty."

"I said comfy, not sexy, and I meant it." She really looked like she meant it. Kirk agreed to lay down and she lay on top of him like a lazy cat. Lily-Lee was resting her head on Kirk's chest. He was surprised that it could be so relaxing and comfortable and yet so non-sexual. It was just... cuddly. When was the last time he had been this close to someone without involving sex? It must have been years. He supposed people with children and families got this sort of contact all the time, but it was hard to come by for a spaceship captain. She was obviously used to resting on someone like this.

"Your people touch I lot, I suppose?"

"All the time. Sleeping on each other arms, always grooming and nit-picking, holding on to your babies and carrying them for up to a year. You have to hand them over to your sister when you have sex, though."

"Do you creatures have any sexual taboos at all?"

"Probably. It's hard to tell what an outsider would consider a taboo. I mean, we don't have sex with rocks or trees."

"But what other members of your own species would be out of bounds? Other women?"

"No, not at all. That happens every day. But not pre-pubescent children, nor your own children regardless of age, and... and... no, I guess that's it."

"So your sister's son, for example, would be a possible sex partner?"

"No, because my sister is part of my flock. We would not stay in a territory belonging to her son. Not that she has a living son, but I see what you mean."

"And what about male homosexuality?"

"I wouldn't know."

"How do you mean?"

"We women have no idea what the men are up to when we're not there. When we show up, they stand and shout and swipe at each other on each side of their territorial border and look like mortal enemies. But I have noticed that they are often well groomed and nit-picked, and they can't do that themselves. Young men about to leave the motherflock often go away together. It can be years and years before they attract a flock, and if they don't get a good territory and good new things the women may never come. Or maybe they don't want any women so they don't bother getting a territory but then how would we know?"

At the far end of the room, the door opened and Spock came in. He couldn't see them from where he was standing.

"Captain? Are you in here?"

"Over here, Spock." Kirk was about to get up but since Lily-Lee still lay on his chest and just turned her head around to see, he figured they could stay put. It was so very comfortable that it felt hard to break it. Spock came around the corner of the potting table and saw them, and froze.

"My apologies. I will return later." Spock turned around immediately and started to walk away.

"Come back here, Spock! You're NOT interrupting anything and you did NOT catch us at a bad time." Lily-Lee got up on her elbows but didn't move any further than that. Kirk was still so relaxed he felt he was melting into the upholstery. Her elbows were sharp and they dug into his chest a bit, but just as he was getting ready to say something she moved them away.

"Did I not? Perhaps I misinterpreted the situation, but my experience with humans have taught me to classify that position as intimate." Spock raised a disapproving eyebrow. That was enough to make Kirk contrary. He may have been a bit embarrassed to be caught with his pants up (so to speak), but if Spock was going to be snarky, Kirk was going to be bossy. God, the man could be infuriating.

"Sit down, Spock, that's an order. I'm just comforting Lily-Lee a bit, there is nothing indecent about it. What did you want?" And so Spock had to sit down and make his report next to the reclining captain and watch Lily-Lee curled up on his chest. She was hardly moving, but the few times that she moved a hand or even just a finger he noticed immediately. When Kirk placed a hand on her back he noticed immensly. He made his report as condensed as he could and departed. An hour later, she came to where Spock was sitting alone in the main computer room. There was no point in pretending that he hadn't been thinking about it the whole time.

"He has very pleasant musculature, you know. Soft as a pillow until he flexes it, and then it's hard a ropes. I listened to his heart valves moving and the air flowing back and forth in his lungs. It was wonderful." Lily-Lee got closer to Spock and she could see that the screen he seemed to be so focused on was in fact empty.

"He needed some touch, his oxytocin level was way too low. That's important, you know." She was right behind him now and could see how the muscles in his neck contracted and twitched as he was trying to control himself. If Lily-Lee had ever seen him use his vulcan strength to strike an enemy and set him flying across the room, she would probably not have had the nerve to tease him like that. But that was a side of Spock she was not aware of.

"Are you jealous? I know you wish it had been you." Spock shaked his head but his teeth were clamped together and stopped him from speaking. He shut his eyes hard but could not resist listening.

"Don't lie to me, there's no use. I know what you want. But you can still get the memory from my head in that strange way you did before. Do you want that? You could have it with you and keep it forever." Spock opened his eyes to narrow slits and glanced at her with a hungry look.

"What do you say, do you want it? Her face was right beside him, inside that head was a memory he knew was so sweet he could live on it for years. He could bring it with him and take it out and relive it over and over. His hand trembled as he raised it and moved closer to the contact points on her small cranium.

"So you do want it, huh?"

"Yes..." His voice was only a whisper. "I... want it."


	4. Chapter 4 - breaking bones

Chapter 4 – Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones

"Well, you can't have it!" Lily-Lee slapped his hand hard and backed away.

"I've never heard anything so cowardly in my life! Bad weather, Spock! Are you going to try to CUDDLE by PROXY?" Spock still sat with his hand raised, not moving. Lily-Lee was stomping and gesticulating in the air. "I have some reluctant respect for your culture, Spock, but this behaviour shows the worst kind of indecisiveness. If you want to be vulcan, then be it, or if you want to be human, then be it, or if you want to combine the two THEN DO SO! But I refuse to believe that you would make either parentage proud with this emotional leeching! Grow some balls, will you? External or internal, I don't care!"

Lily-Lee stormed out of the room and left Spock to his misery.

–***–

Spock didn't come to dinner that evening, and not the next day. On the third day he was back to his usual routine and was sitting at the officers table again when Lily-Lee came in with a sawed-off femur on her tray.

"May I inquire as to why you are bringing that object to the dining table?"

"Of course you may, Spock. The answer is that this beautiful thick marrow bone is going to be my dinner." Lily-Lee sat down between Spock and McCoy at the table, tucking her legs in under her on the chair to get a bit higher up.

"Jesus, Lily-Lee! Where did you get it? The food synthesizer don't make raw animals that size and I doubt that we got any in the ship's freezer."

"Black market. That last port was full of opportunities." Lily-Lee took a small spoon and started digging in the open end of the bone. The marrow was pink, fat and malleable and melted on the tongue. It didn't take long until she could no longer reach down to it with the spoon.

"Spock, can you break this open for me? I haven't got the hand strength."

"No. That is revolting."

"What?" Lily-Lee looked up with a frightened face and took a napkin to cover the bone. "Revolting against whom? I don't want to take part in a rebellion."

After the laughter had died down, Lily-Lee was a bit pink in the face from having missed a double meaning. Spock still declined to assist, choosing to focus on a plate of sliced vegetables in front of him.

"All right, sorry to upset your sensibilities. I'll ask someone else. Who can break this for me?" The marrowbone must have come from some large sturdy animal because nobody at the table was able to crack it open. Kirk used both hands but without results. Someone at the next table reached over.

"Fine, gimme it. You're a bad influence on them, lass. Why are ye all trying to use your bare hands? You'd think we didn't have tools on this ship." Scott took out some complicated pocket instrument and wedged it into the opening. He turned a screw around and around and the bone split in two smooth halves with a creaking sound.

"Thank you, Scotty."

"Hmpf." Scott turned back to his own dinner and put the expander tool in his front trouser pocket.

"Bone marrow is a human foodstuff too, right captain? I looked up some references and recepies from earth and there were plenty of them."

"Yes, but a bit old-fashioned. We prefer it cooked in soups and such. Back home in Iowa, my mother would cook with marrow sometimes."

"I found this reference also: "Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman, Be he live, or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread."

Kirk had finished his meal and got up from the table.

"You know what, Lily-Lee, I'll get back to my post and you grind your Bones." This double meaning could have passed unnoticed if Kirk had been able to resist winking to underscore it. But how could he resist that?

–***–

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: All right readers, now I need your help. There has now been 39 chapters of Lily-Lee stories, and no real K/S action yet. I can't put it off any longer, they are in agony now. But how? Suggestions, please! Give me a place, or a circumstance, or an object, or anything to inspire me. Absurdities welcome (it can be very inspiring to say "Well not THAT!").  
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**EXTRA NOTE: No longer open to suggestions.**


	5. Chapter 5 - As You Like It

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: At the end of last chapter, I asked for suggestions where you readers would like the K/S action to take place. As I could have guessed (since you're reading my stories), you are all perverts. _Creative_ perverts. I couldn't include all suggestions, of course, which is the reason chapter five contains two dream sequences. Special thanks to Milton Perry and Trekkfan.**

Chapter 5 - As You Like It

Before he woke up the next day, Kirk had disturbing dreams. He had he kind of dreams you get when you're still tired and don't want to get up just yet. He dreamed he got up, went to the bathroom, got dressed and took the elevator to the bridge. When he reached the bridge everything looked like it should, except Spock was sitting in the captain's chair. Kirk went over to the chair to say 'good morning' and expected Spock to get up, but instead Spock took hold of his arm and pulled him down to sit in his lap. Spock put his long fingers in between Kirk's and gripped his hand hard. He put his other arm around Kirk's waist and held him close. Their noses were almost touching, Kirk felt the hot breath of his first officer enter his own mouth.

"Good morning... my captain." Spock leaned in and was going to kiss him, he was so close, he... Kirk woke up with his erection tangled in the bed sheet.

Spock's dreams were not so rose-coloured. In his dream, the whole ship and everything in it had taken on a brown sepia tone, which made it impossible to tell the different uniforms apart. Spock saw himself wandering about the ship like he was mad, using bad language and pursuing Kirk in the corridors. All the time, he was getting closer. Closer, by Nine Inch Nails. What did that mean? He had to find Kirk, he needed him, he would be dead without him, but when he finally caught up with Kirk, he... hit him. Struck him down. Hurt him. Took him. To escape facing him again after this heinous crime he took the shuttle _Galileo_ and left the ship. Spock woke up with no appetite for breakfast.

He managed to avoid captain Kirk until it was time to board the shuttle with the rest of the landing party. Spock was carrying both his own and Lily-Lee's tricorder.

"There you are, Spock, I didn't see you at breakfast."

"Logical, since I was not there." Kirk could not think of a good reply to that, so he had to settle for giving Spock five concerned looks and one worried glance while they waited for the shuttle to take off. They were going down to the pH-troubled ocean of the planet below. The _Galileo_ had seven seats, and was carrying seven persons, but one seat was still free since Lily-Lee insisted on sitting in McCoy's lap. She was holding a padd and checking out a list of words associated with this new activity.

"Shuttlepod, shuttlepipes, shuttleless, shuttlecraft, shuttlecock. Wait, shuttlecock? What's that, doc?"

"Hm? Oh, that's got nothing to do with this. That's a badminton ball, goes back and forth in play."

"Shuttlecock, goes back and forth, that'll be easy to remember."

"I bet."

"Shuttlecock."

"Stop saying that."

"Whyyy? It's not a dirty word."

"It is when you say it!"

Kirk looked back over his shoulder at McCoy. The doctor didn't look annoyed at all, in spite of his words. In fact, he was smiling. Lieutenant Latimer and yeoman Mears exchanged glances and looked from the doctor to the captain. Probably they were curious to know the captain's reason to not uphold basic rules concerning shuttle traffic. _Well, I haven't seen Bones with such rosy cheeks in a long time, so I'm going to let him bend a few rules_.

They descended over the vast sea, which covered the southern third of the planet's surface, and even from the stratosphere they could see pillars of smoke rising in a straight line along the rift. Eventually the _Galileo_ was on an altitude of five meters, propelling itself against the water surface to save on fuel. As planned, the shuttle stayed far away from the rift, gathering data.

Without any warning, everything turned into rubble, cold water, stench and the sound of breaking metal.


	6. Chapter 6 - On Dead Man's Chest

Chapter 6 - On Dead Man's Chest

Captain Kirk crawled up on the rough rock surface to get away from the cold waves. It wasn't much of an island, just a piece of old volcanic rock with large boulders on it, like the back of a whale balancing beach balls. He was not alone, there were two others in the biting wind with him. Kirk stroked his wet hair away from his forehead.

"What happened?"

"The planet farted so hard it blew a hole in the sea and we fell into it." Lily-Lee sat and hugged her knees.

"What? I never thought I'd say this, but Spock, could you explain that in more technical terms?"

"Certainly, captain. We ascertained earlier that there has been geodynamic activity in the mid-ocean rift of this planet, and such events have released large amounts of fossil gas. The _Galileo_ happened to pass through just such an eruption, where the gas bubbles rose to the surface and, when displacing the water, also removed the semi-solid surface the shuttle was at the moment using to stabilise itself against."

"That's what I said. It's freezing here, especially with that wind. You're starting to look cold, Spock. How are you holding up?" When she said that, Kirk realised that he was stuck on a frigid lump of stone with waves splashing over it with one desert creature and one savannah creature. He was cold but he could manage, but could they? Spock was sitting down, looking pale and hardly moving, but Lily-Lee looked pink and toasty. Kirk came over and touched her head, it felt pleasantly warm against his cold hand. She looked up and saw his puzzled face.

"I'm burning fat for heat. My kind has brown adipose tissue that can do that. Unfortunately, it comes with a cost. To be precise, it comes with the cost of burning over 4000 calories per day, which I don't have."

"In that case you have exchanged death from hypothermia in 3.45 hours to death from starvation in 45.4 hours, given a weight of 25kg. Perfectly logical." Spock's voice was strained. Kirk looked at him with concern.

"And what about yourself?"

"The risk of death from starvation is negligible. Death from hypothermia should occur in 17.2 hours assuming the present conditions are unaltered."

"So we'll alter the conditions!" _But how? Stuck on this god-forsaken piece of rock in this weather. _Kirk sat down next to the others and tried to think of something. However, his science staff was quicker thinkers than he.

"In that case, captain, you'd better sit a lot closer to Spock, to warm him a bit. You cover the back and I'll warm him from the front." There was nothing to say against that, so soon they were sitting like three lemurs on a branch.

"Thank you, captain, Lily-Lee. When my clothes are dry I should be able to manage on my own. The weather is slightly less adverse already."

"I'm getting hungry."

Lily-Lee's words reminded the captain of her problem. That seemed impossible to solve, would they have to see her starve to death? Spock and Lily-Lee were discussing the properties of the surrounding sea and for every sentence, Kirk could feel despair rising within him. This was hopeless. He leaned against Spock's back and held him tight. _Maybe I could die like this. It's not so bad._

"The temperature of the sea water is exactly 8°C at the surface."

"Yeah, and there is even colder water welling up from the bottom layer on the lay side."

"Precisely. The colder water is coming from the area around the south pole of this planet."

"I'll bet it's full of dead plankton."

"Very likely, due to the concentration of volcanic pollutants around the pole."

"Yeah. And then the stuff get rotten."

"The conclusion is obvious."

"Yep."

"There should be an abundance of nutritious organisms available."

–***–


	7. Chapter 7 - Seafood Bukkake

Chapter 7 - Seafood Bukkake

"Wait, what?" Kirk looked up at this unexpected statement. Lily-Lee was getting up from her front-lemur seat and went down to the water's edge. The cliff was sloping and the surface was slick and black from something thriving in the wave splash area. She walked back, came round to the other side, tried to climb between two rocks, came back again, and tried another spot. She was careful not to have a bad fall here. When she found a better place, she went further down and put her toes down in the shaggy brown stuff that grew where the water was shallow.

"It's not algae like I know it, but it's photosynthetic organisms at least. I don't know what lives here, but there should be filtraters, grazers and crawlers. Maybe also some top predators to live off them. I'll pick up what I can reach and we'll have a taste."

"You do the tasting, and we'll follow your lead, okay? You know what we can manage by now." Kirk felt that Spock was warm enough now, warmer than he was himself, but if he wasn't saying stop, then Kirk sure wasn't going to say it either. They kept sitting. Lily-Lee used her dress as a bag and picked a little of everything within reach, which turned out to be rather a lot of things. She came back up to the sitting men and poured it out. They politely declined to join in the testing but watched her with interest. Sniffing, breaking open shells, trying drops on the tongue, discarding, saving for further testing, and sorting into piles.

"Okay, I'm not testing all of them for every possible thing because I'm getting exhausted. Most of them do not contain enough energy by far, so I won't consider them. Some are too rough on our digestive systems, some are poisonous. Many of them have accumulated large amounts of trace elements, probably from the volcanic activity. We COULD eat them, but we'd get way to much selenium. But this is promising."

Lily-Lee held up some fist-sized life form with a shell on one side, like a large limpet. Inside the shell was a wiggling mass of articulated legs like on a pillbug. Lily-Lee pinched all the legs together and showed the men a pale yellow heart-shaped sack that lay protected inside the shell.

"These thingies have mature egg sacks. The whole population is waiting for mating season, whenever that is. Can't be far off, they've had them ready since before the gas eruptions because the eggs are not polluted. It could be that the eruptions are delaying the mating."

"And you think this is good food?"

"Yes. I'm going to try some more. They're easy to find, just sitting there and can be pried off the rock with another shell." Lily-Lee ate one whole egg sack and looked pleased. "A bit heavy on the iodine, but nice. I'd describe it as cottage cheese with raw caviar in it. Try some? I'll go get some more." Lily-Lee went back down to the water to pick a whole dress-bag full. Meanwhile, Kirk sat looking a bit doubtful with a shell in his hand, trying to get hold of all the legs at once. When he got all the spindly legs gathered in a bunch, he poked the sack with a finger and promptly got his face covered in the grainy yellow goo.

"Hey, captain, that's great! How did you do that?" Lily-Lee came back to them and put the full bag down.

"Pppfft. Did what? Help me get it off, I can't see!"

"You made it release the eggs without hurting it, that's perfect. You sure know how to tickle alien creatures in the right places! We can make them squirt and then toss them back alive." Lily-Lee made Kirk show her just how he did it and promptly got an ear full.

"Ha-ha-ha. I need to work on my aim. Or I'll just hold it up to my mouth and mmphh, mmm, yes that works. This is really good!"

Lily-Lee ate almost the whole bag. Kirk ate some just to get back at the creatures. Spock declined politely but watched the captain closely. When he caught the shot in his mouth Spock almost flinched and closed his eyes. Kirk couldn't understand why. Was it so disgusting? While they were eating the clouds parted and the sun came out. It was close to the horizon, and Spock informed them that due to the latitude, it was going to be a midnight sun. Since she was yawning, Kirk suggested that Lily-Lee should get some sleep. She stuffed her dress with the shaggy brown stuff from the water's edge and put it down behind the largest boulder to us it as a pillow. Comfortable rather than decent. Kirk had lost his pleasant hold of Spock when he got his face egged and cleaned.

"I suppose you don't need me warming you anymore?"

"No, captain, unfortunately not."

Kirk gazed out over the now calm and glittering sea. _Lily-Lee is out of danger, Spock is out of danger, it's time to start thinking about the rest of the crew and how to get in touch with the ship and hey wait a minute did he just say UNFORTUNATELY?_

–***–


	8. Chapter 8 - Mating Time

Chapter 8 - Mating Time

_Did he say unfortunately, or was it fortunately? I must have heard it wrong. Get a grip on yourself, Jim, no jumping to conclusions here. He was cold and I was allowed to warm him, that's all. He wouldn't let me hold him close like that unless he had to, I know that. I try not to touch him too much, I really try, but sometimes it just happens. I know he thinks it's too often, but it's still only a fraction of the times I want to touch him and stop myself._

"Captain... Jim, will you sit here next to me?"

"What? Uh, sure. Do you have something on your mind, Spock?" Kirk sat down and was waiting to hear what his science officer had to say. Was it bad news? Was it another catastrophe coming, and that's why he had waited until Lily-Lee was asleep? Spock was silent for so long Kirk became certain that it must be very, very bad news.

"Jim... may I?" Spock reached for Kirk's hand and lifted it up, holding it in a light, almost hovering grip. He let it go and Kirk was sitting still, confused, with his hand empty between them. Spock hesitated, holding both his own hands tight together, swallowing and finally... slowly... stretched out two fingers and stroked them against Kirk's. Kirk could feel Spock's fingers tremble. _What is he doing? I don't understand, is he trying to calm me down or something? I don't... oh god, oh my god, he's KISSING me!_

"Spock? That is... that is a vulcan... kiss, am I right?"

"Yes." Spock's voice was only a whisper and he stroked his fingers against Kirk's again. "Please tell me if it makes you uncomfortable."

"No, no, but I'm no Vulcan, I don't know how to do that." _And I don't know how to SHUT UP either, apparently. What am I trying to do, discourage him?_

"I will attempt to make a combination of the different cultures. I have been advised that it can be done, and it had best be done without delay. This crash... it could have killed us. It may have killed some of the team. In fact, it may kill us yet if we are not rescued. It would not be logical to postpone this until it is too late."

"Postpone what?"

"This." Spock put his fingertips against Kirk's and leaned in to put his mouth to cover his captain's surprised gasp. The touch was light and yet so determined, so calculated and yet so warm that Kirk found himself frozen in time, sitting still with closed eyes hearing the waves rise and fall synchronised with Spock's slow breathing. Kirk could feel his own heartbeat in his lips, pulsating against this unexpected soft surface.

"I'm SO sorry to interrupt you guys, but..." Spock jumped up and walked away without speaking, too embarrassed for words. Kirk remained seated, sighed deeply and looked up at Lily-Lee with a scowl.

"This had better be important."

"A ship." Kirk looked in the direction she was pointing. She was right.

–***–

The alien ship was very close to shore, rocking on the waves. Shaped like a doughnut and red with a transparent roof, it looked like an earth child's swim ring. No crew could be seen.

"I waited as long as I dared to. But it started to veer and I didn't want us to miss it."

"You... waited? I thought you were asleep."

"Let's not get distracted by tiny details. What sort of ship is that?" Spock had joined them after regaining his composure.

"The facts available indicate an automated rescue vehicle, originating from the north of this planet. The O345 inhabitants are technologically advanced but very reclusive. The federation have sparse information on them, but they have a history of being peaceful and disorganised."

Kirk was approaching the ship and when he got close, the roof opened in five places around the outer edge. Water splashed in and sloshed around on the floor. The three of them got in and the roof closed again. There was no place designated for sitting on and the roof was too low for the men to stand upright. Kirk spotted three similar rescue vehicles far away. Lily-Lee was standing with her hands against the glass, looking back at the small island as the ship moved away.

"Hey, look! The sea's turning white and yellow!" Kirk and Spock came over to look. Around the island the water looked like milk and cream. "So I was right, it was mating time for those things."

–***–


	9. Chapter 9 - All Aboard

Chapter 9 - All Aboard

The rescue vehicle moved slowly through the water and the three aboard had no means of steering. Other similar ships were around, and they all seemed to close in on each other and gather in a fleet of maybe thirty ships, rolling up and down at a distance from each other. In the closest ship there was only sea water and debris from the _Galileo._ Two others appeared empty as far as they could see, but one had picked up yeoman Mears, and she was pounding on the glass but they could not hear her. In one ship they could see a boot... or was it a leg? Spock informed them that the vehicle was transmitting emergency signals both into the atmosphere and out into space. There was nothing to do but wait. Kirk noticed that Lily-Lee were staring at the ship with the boot, and then he saw a tear fall from her eye and down her hairy cheek.

"Lily-Lee? What's the matter?"

"Do you think Horatio is dead?"

"Who?"

"Horatio."

Kirk couldn't understand and was about to ask again when Spock interrupted him with a comment in a low voice.

"Captain, you may remember that the members of her species frequenty change names, especially at significant life events or migration to a new territory. It is possible that a death may be considered a change that requires a new name."

"Lily-Lee, do you mean doc?" Kirk only got a sniffle and a nod in response. He came over to her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"No, I think he's okay. Don't worry about him, he's been through worse. It's likely that he's just on some other island further away."

"The probability of that is roughly five hundred fifty-two to one."

"Spock, please!" There was no point trying to wipe her tears with hands wet from sea water, so Kirk just sat beside her as she was weeping. They waited in silence, she wept. He looked out and suddenly saw yeoman Mears disappear in a column of sparkles.

"They've found us!"

–***–

They were taken from the transporter room straight to sickbay. Yeoman Mears was in bad shape, hypothermic and bleeding, and was taken to a separate room. Lily-Lee was quiet and subdued and became even more so when nurse Chapel, not McCoy, came in to check their condition. She didn't ask Chapel. She was afraid to hear the answer.

"So how do you feel, Lily-Lee, is it hurting anywhere?"

"S'okay."

Chapel made her lay down on the biobed and elevated it as high as it would go so that she could reach the foot pedals. The large display shouted out alerts and suggested immediate resuscitation. Chapel silenced it.

"Sorry about that. Don't pay any attention to it, it's just that I can't find your baseline values in the memory banks even though they should be there. I don't know how the doctor categorised them." Kirk and Spock exchanged a glance and Kirk cleared his throat.

"So, hrm, you can't ask him?"

"No, I can't." Nurse Chapel looked worried. Kirk looked worse. _Hell._

"I finally got him to sign off even though he worked two shifts in a row, I don't have the heart to disturb him before he comes back on." Her words turned three grieving faces into blank expressions of surprise. The door behind Chapel opened.

"Damn it, Christine, I told you to come and get me if there was any news!"

"LEONARD!" Lily-Lee tackled the doctor with a jump from the biobed and threw her arms around his neck.

"What happened to you? The rest of us were back on the ship thirty minutes after the crash. We've been worried sick. And..." McCoy had been hugging her but now he was touching her rib cage. "And what made you lose fifteen percent of your weight?" He put her down and pulled up her baseline values.

"Yep, called it. You're down 3.75 kg, that's more than eight pounds. Otherwise you're unharmed except some scratches on the shins." McCoy also examined Kirk and Spock.

"They're fine. But what are we going to do about you, little lady?"

"Feed me?"

"You got that right. Doctor's orders: some old-fashioned Georgia-style cooking." He walked out with Lily-Lee.

"Hey, Bones, what about us?"

"Nothing wrong with you that a change of clothes won't fix. Stop wasting my time!" Kirk was so happy to see McCoy alive and annoyed that he just sat there and smiled at the now closed door. He had forgotten all about his science officer until he felt Spock's hand close in a hard grip around his elbow. Spock pulled Kirk to his feet and marched him out of the room without a word, like he was escorting a prisoner.

–***–


	10. Chapter 10 - Drooling (end)

Chapter 10 - Drooling

Spock kept holding on to Kirk's elbow as they moved swiftly through the corridors. The members of the crew they met along the way all had the same reaction. They looked up, happy to see their captain alive, and then stepped aside at the sight of Spock's serious face and Kirk's torn shirt, not sure if this was the captain or some captured clone. They reached the elevator.

"You can let me go, Spock. I think you're unnerving the crew, and..." Kirk was interrupted by a something like a heat wave that stopped his breathing and made his ears burn. Spock had lowered his touch telepath shields. Kirk was flooded with the feeling that where Spock held his hand did not matter, his hold would last. When the wave had passed over him he had to grab the handle on the wall to steady himself. Spock was taking him to his own quarters.

With the door locked and the lights dim, Kirk was standing against the wall with Spock close in front of him, and Spock carefully arranging Kirk's hands flat against the wall. He positioned them almost without touching, then placed each of his own fingertips on Kirk's, traced lines down across the palms and gathered at the wrist before reversing the motion and ending up back at the tips. The contact was intense, Kirk felt for a moment like he consisted only of two disembodied hands. It made him feel a bit lost, because at this stage in life he was used to being the more experienced sex partner but right now he didn't know what to do. He was sweating all over and knew he was still filthy from the crash. Spock's skin was dry and his hair was neat, somehow. He had his eyes closed so Kirk could study his face. A glint caught his eye. It was... a drop... on Spock's lower lip. It was swelling, about to run down his cheek. He was DROOLING! That glimpse of the human side in Spock renewed Kirk's courage. _Enough Vulcan stuff for now, he said he wanted to combine the two, right? If he wants it so bad his mouth is watering, then he's going to get it._

With this resolution, Kirk slid down the wall to a crouching position. Many nights had he tried to imagine what this vulcan-human hybrid would look like and his fantasy had come up with so many strange suggestions that reality could not shock him. Kirk closed his hands around the greenish organ, where the only other indication of an alien heritage was a disproportionally long head. No wider than the rest of the penis, but almost one quarter of the length. It fitted nicely in the mouth. When Kirk pulled his lips away, the loss of contact was so painful that Spock could not help thrusting his hips forward, which knocked Kirk's head against the wall. It wasn't a bad bump, but it still felt good when Spock gently put his hand on the back of Kirk's head to protect it. Shortly after, Kirk felt Spock's other hand on the left side of his face, hovering over the contact points.

"May I?"

"Yeah... do it." Spock touched the points and formed a loop of physical sensation through both of them. Kirk picked up the pace now that he was getting feedback straight from the source. Spock was leaning his forehead against the wall. For every lick Kirk made, he could feel how Spock reacted to it. It quickly taught him to get a lot rougher, more than he would have liked on himself, and once he had a steady rhythm going he could feel Spock getting close, and closer. Spock's neck curved forward and the wallboards buckled. He was overflowing both Kirk's mind and his mouth.

–***–

Kirk was sitting on the floor, still fully dressed except for the torn shirt. His pants were so tight it was hurting him, he had to unbutton NOW. _God, I should have done that a lot sooner but there was never time. _Spock was pulling his shirts off over his head and Kirk hurried to follow his lead. The boots were a pain to get off; the leather was still moist from seawater. Spock, now nude, lay face down on his own bed.

"Can we proceed to intercourse?" It was not a very romantic statement, but it went straight to Kirk's deepest spot because it showed that this was for certain the Spock he knew and longed to have.

"Do you have a lubricant or something?"

"There is a lotion there on the shelf. In the spray bottle." Spock pointed. Kirk made a long arm and grabbed the bottle. He sprayed some lotion in his hand. _But since it's a spray bottle, why not take advantage of it?_ He used the fingers of his left hand to spread Spock's butt cheeks apart, aimed for the bull's eye and... no. He stopped himself from displaying his childish sense of humour. Laughter tried to force its way out of his mouth and he had to bite down to stop it. The wonder of the situation made Kirk feel inappropriately giddy. Not long ago they had been surrounded by the threat of death and now... he was about to fuck the man of his dreams. _I don't think it's the right moment. _He put the bottle down and used his fingers instead, slowly massaging up and down the crack and, eventually, inside. Spock made some low-pitched sounds into the pillow. _Is this his first time with a man? Could be. But Vulcans are known to be tough, he can take it. Ready or not, here I come. Oh god, hot hot hot. How can a few degrees make such a difference?_ He didn't last long, not after a prelude like that. After all, he was only human.

–***–

"More."

"Sorry, what?"

"I need you more." Spock was spooning Kirk and had the head of his new erection between Kirk's sweat-soaked buttocks. His statement had an air of desperation to it that convinced Kirk that this was not merely a compliment.

"Uh, sure, I guess you can... whoa!" Within a second of being given permission, before Kirk could even finish the sentence, Spock was deep inside him. It took a long time before Spock, finally sated, could rest his head peacefully on Kirk's chest and listen to his heart valves. Kirk was asleep, exhausted, and Spock listened to the air rushing in and out of his lungs with every breath. It was just as sweet as he had imagined it.

–***–

Lily-Lee was wolfing down chicken wings and deep-fried zucchini slices and telling McCoy all that had happened. McCoy, having long since finished, was sitting across the table in his quarters with a second glass of Kentucky bourbon.

"And then, you know, I saw the rescue vehicle and we got on board. And it was surprising, because just as we were leaving, all those shellfish thingies started to mate. The water was white with their eggs and sperm."

"Then it was probably you who triggered them."

"Do you think so?" Lily-Lee pondered this and had another wing. "You may be right. We tossed the empty ones back into the water, and there must have been residue on them. Maybe the smell in the water got the rest started?"

"Sounds very likely."

"Hmm. Well, they were overdue anyway. I hope I didn't cause them any trouble."

"Oh, you hope so? Lemme tell you, if there is one thing that happens when you poke your fingers into something that's not your business, it's catalysis of overdue mating. You always cause trouble." McCoy finished his bourbon and looked at her angry face with a smile. Her anger didn't worry him a bit; he would have her smiling within one minute because he knew how. All it took was a dirty joke.

"Oh yeah? Well, mister, how about I poke my fingers in the one place you can't see them and you can kiss my hairy ass!"

"Well..." McCoy put his glass down on the table. "I was going to make a suggestion, but it sounds like you already have everything planned."

–***–

**THE END**

**That was fun. See you someday, readers! If you never watched the video that is described in Spock's dream, look it up (Star Trek + Nine Inch Nails = Closer) and enjoy.  
**


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